Job on ‘fake’ certificate: Seven agri officials skip disability assessment

President of the association Harnek Singh said seven officials posted with the agriculture department have taken the job using ‘fake’ disability certificate.

Members of Disabled Persons Association here on Thursday alleged that seven agriculture department officials who got job allegedly on the basis of fake disability certificates did not appear for assessment of their physical condition at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh on December 4.

HT Image

President of the association Harnek Singh said seven officials posted with the agriculture department have taken the job using ‘fake’ disability certificate. “I filed a complaint against Harwinderjit Singh, Dr Manjit Singh, Dr Inderpal Singh, Dr Ram Sarup, Dr Prithipal Singh, Dr Karanjit Singh and Dr Jagseer Singh to the chief minister last year that despite having disability not more than 5-10%, these officials have produced fake certificates of more than 40% disability, which was mandatory for the job,” he said.

“Acting on my complaint, the chief minister’s office directed the department to take action. The agriculture department in December 2018 issued letters to these officials, asking them to go through disability assessment from Patiala civil surgeon. But they did not appear for the assessment,” he said.

“On another request to the CM, the agriculture department issued another letter directing them to go through the disability assessment at PGIMER and submit treatment records. The PGIMER medical record department informed the department that these officials have been informed to appear at PGIMER on December 4. But none of the officials visited, while only three submitted the record,” he added.

Seeking strict action against them, association’s general secretary Harbans Singh said taking jobs through ‘fake’ disability certificate is a violation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 and the government must terminate their services for not following directions.

Agriculture director Sutantar Kumar Airi said that in response to the letters sent to the officials, they had stated that the since the matter was sub-judice, they will wait for the court order.